Railway-car brake and other mechanism.



PATENTED FEB. 18, 1908.

E. D. HILLMAN.

RAILWAY GAR BRAKE AND OTHER MECHANISM.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT.21, 1907.

UNITED STATES PATENT ()FFICE.

EDWARD D. HILLMAN, OF LARCIIMONT MANOR, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR TO EENJAMIN IIEGEMAN, JR., OF NORTH PLAINFIELD,

NEW JERSEY.

RAILWAY-CAR BRAKE AND OTHER MECHANISM.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Feb. 18, 1908.

Application filed September 21. 1907- Borlal H0. 393 .890.

scribed, and particularly pointed out in the.

claims.

The brake-levers of inside hung brakes are connected together at their lower ends by a rod, whereby the motion of one lever is communicated to the other, and the ends of this rod are bifurcated to pivotally receive the lower ends of said levers. It fre uently happens that there should be an adjustment of the lower ends of the brake-levers with respect to each other and. the connecting rod.

The object of my invention is to rovide a connecting rod having u on one or oth ends a jaw-member adjustab y secured thereto by screw threads and e uipped with special means, of the character ereinafter described, for locking the same upon the rod. When the rod of my invention is provided at both ends with jaw-members screwed upon the same and equipped with the locking means,

.said rod may, after the locking means have been released, be lengthenedor shortened to secure just the proper relative relation of the same with the brake-'levers and the brakeleversto each other by simply rotating the body of the rod and without detaching the aw-members either from the rod or the rake-levers, and thereafter the rod and levers may be secured in their adjusted relation by tightening said locking means.

'le my invention is of special advantage in railway car brake mechanisms, it is useful also in other railway mechanisms employing a pivoted connecting rod having a jaw-member threaded on the end thereof, and hence I do not desire to limit my invention absolutely to brake-mechanism.

The invention will be fully understood from the detailed description hereinafter presented, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 1s a central vertical section throu a portion of a car-truck equipped with bra e mechanism embodying my invention; Fig. 2 is an enlarged side elevation of one end ortion of the connecting rod having the awmember and locking means a plied thereto and forming a part thereof; dig. 3 is a top view, partly in central section, of the same, the section being on the dotted line 3-3 of Fig. 4, and Fig. 4 is a vertical section of the same on the dotted line 44 of Fi 2.

In the drawings, 10 designates the usual car wheel and 11 brake-beams of known construction, said beams being of truss-form having heads 12 carrying brake-shoes 14 and struts 15 in which the brake-levers 16 are pivotally mounted, as usual. The levers 16 are customarily connected with mechanical means for operating them in applying and releasing the brake-shoes, and said levers are connected at their lower ends by a rod 17 through which motion is communicated from one lever to the other. The brakebeams, heads, shoes, struts and levers are all of known form and construction and not se arately claimed therein, my invention resi ing more articularly in the rod 17 which connects the ower ends of said levers.

The rod 17 is threaded at its ends, right hand threads being provided at one end andleft hand threads at the other end thereof,

and preferably formed at its central ortion with a polygonal section 18 adapte to receive a wrench for rotating said rod during the adjustment of the same. The rod 17 is provided upon its ends with bifurcated or aw-members 19 comprising a tubular internally threaded portion 20 and jaws 21, the latter being a ertured, as at 22, to receive the pivot by which the lower end of the brakelever is secured between said jaws. The screw threads formed within the tubular portions 20 of the members 19 are the threaded ends of the rod 17, as shown in Fig. 3, whereby said members 19 may be a plied upon and adjusted along the ends of t e- 17 are ap lied the internally threaded s litnuts 25 w ich are each formed with a po ygonal shoulder 26 to receive a wrenc and adapted towith an inwardly extending conical stem 27 adapted to the recess 23in the member 19. The nuts are lirst' applied upon the rod 17 and then the jaw-members 19 areintroduced to msition upon the ends of said rod, after wluch the nuts 25 are screwed outwardly upon the rod 17, whereby their stems 27 are caused to enter. the recesses 23 and firmly engage the. walls of the same. The crowding of the stems .27 into the recesses 23 results in the nuts 25 being very firmly bound against the rod 17 and in the jam-members 19 being rigidly locked in position on said rod. The stems 27 and recesses 23 are so pro ortioned that the outer ends of said stems 11 not become seated against the jaw-members 19 at the extreme inner ends of said recesses. The inclined walls of the recesses 23 and inclined outer surfaces of the stems 27 co-act as wedges to eflect a very firm binding together of the rod 17 nuts 25 and jaw-members 19.

Those portions of the tubular arts 20 of the 'aw-members 19 containing t 1e recesses 23 iorln integral additions to said members, whereby the rovision of said recesses does not result in t 1e proper thread area of the openings 24 being reduced. J

The advantages of the rod 17 having the jaw-members 19 adjustable thereon and provided with locking means will be apparent without special detailed explanation. By initially adjusting the jaw-members 19 upon the ends of the rod 17, a rod of just the correct length for the brake-levers 16 may be secured, and by means of the locking nuts 25 said jaw-members may be fastened in position-and the correct length of rod preserved the'same as though the entire rod with its jawmembers were in one integral piece. U on any wearing of the brake-shoes or 0t er parts rendering the relative adjustment of the lower ends of the brake-levers with respect to each other desirable, it will simply be necessary to unscrew the lockingnuts 25 from the sockets or recesses 23 and apply a wrench to the polygonal section 18 of t e rod 17 and turn said rod to lengthen or shorten the connection, as the circumstances may require, the locking-nuts 25 being thereafter resecured so as to lock the jaw-members 19 and the rod together. The rod 17 having the jaw-members 19 is adjustable as to its length and consequently may be used to regulate the relation of the lower ends of the levers 16-to each other without detaching either the levers from the j aw-members or the jaw-members from the rod, no part of the structure being entirely removed and obviously as fine an adjustment as may be desired being possible of attainment both initially and during the use of the mechanism.

Some, though not all, of the advantages of my invention may be attained when the rod 17 is provided on only one end with the jaw-member 19 and locking means 25,-and

hence I. do not desire to limit the invention.

in every instance to the employment of the jaw-members 19 on both ends of the rod 17. am aware also that the rod 17 having upon its end the jaw-member 19 and lockingmeans -25 may be used in other connections 1n railway work in which a pivoted connecting rod is desired, this invention permitting of the adjustment of the rod as to its length and the securing of the rod in such adjustment, so that during the movement of the rod when in action there may be no looseness between the body of the rod and jaw-member and no danger of said parts losing their desired relation to each other.

What I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters-Patent, is:

1. In railway car brake mechanism, brake o crating levers pivotally connected with t e brake-beams, and a rod connecting and pivotally secured to said levers and comprising a body-portion threaded at its ends, internally threaded j aw-members on the ends of said body-portion, and means for locking said jaw-members on said body-portion, said locking means comprising for each jaw-member an internally threaded split-nut having a conical stem applied on the rod and a conical recess in theend of the jaw-member to re-.

operating levers pivotally connected with the brake-beams, and a rod connecting and pivotally secured to said levers and comprising a body-portion having a threaded end, an internally threaded jaw-member on said threaded end and having in its inner end a conical recess, and an internally threaded split locking-nut on said body-portion and having a conical stem adapted to be wedged into said conical recess; substantially. as set forth.

3. The connecting rod for use in mechanisms connected with railway work, said rod comprising a body-portion having a threaded end, an internally threaded jaw-member on said threaded end and having in its inner end a conical recess, and an internally threaded split locking-nut on said body-portion and having a conical stem adapted to be wedged into said conical recess; substantially as set forth.

4. The connecting rod for use in mechanisms connected' with railway work, said rod comprising a body-portion having threaded ends, internally threaded members on said threaded ends and each having in its inner end a conical recess and being transversely apertured at its outerend, and an internally threaded split locking-nut on said body-portion and having conical stems adapted to be wedged into said conical recesses; substantially as set forth.

5. The connecting-rod for use in mechanisms connected with railway work, said rod into said conical recess; substantially as set comprising a body-portion having a threaded forth.

end, an internally threaded member on said Signed at New York city, in the county of threaded end andhavingin its inner end a '5 New York and State of New York, this 19th 5 conical recess and at its other end being I day of September A. D. 1907.

transversely apertured for pivotal connection with the part intended to cooperate EDWARD HILLMAN' with said rod, and an internally threaded Witnesses: split locking-nut on said body-portion and ARTHUR MARION, 10 having a conical stem adapted to be wedged CHASVC. GILL. 

